Thoughts from the Air

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My one day in Minnesota was awesome! I got to have breakfast with the fam, and they even took me to the Pancake House so I could have the buckwheat pancakes, sausage links, and 49ers that I had been craving for so long in Colorado. I also had coffee with one of my high school teachers, and it was super cool to hear about the Science Bowl team's national win, her thoughts on being a woman in STEM, and so much more! My mom and I visited our friends' new farm, watched the dogs run around, and I spent some time with my brothers. For a trip that was less than 24 hours, we really fit a lot in :)
Objectively, the best breakfast order ever

After all that, the 8 hour flight to Paris was really not as bad as I expected! I had made grand plans and researched how to survive long flights for weeks, but in reality I listened to music, napped, and looked out the window, and before I knew it we were touching down at Charles de Gaulle. 

The French countryside is so pretty


The airplane food was pretty okay, and the apple cinnamon breakfast pastry was actually delicious: hot and flaky and amazing :) On my flight from Paris to Düsseldorf, we even got cute little parmesan and sundried tomato sandwiches for lunch! I really enjoyed Charles de Gaulle airport, and compiled a list of all the cool things I saw there that should be added to American airports ASAP. 
  • coffee vending machines with cappuccinos, lattes, and espresso
  • cute little carts with macaroons in every flavor imaginable
  • fresh pastries, fruit, and sandwiches in the (free!) airport lounge
  • staff who are somehow fluent in seemingly every language
One thing that CDG was lacking compared to American airports: air conditioning! It was sunny and 75 F, but it felt like 100% humidity: I was sweating just walking through security. 
Our cute little plane for the jump from Paris to Dusseldorf. The company is called Hop! because they do all of Air France's short flights in Europe.

I’m writing this en route to Düsseldorf, and then I have just a short train ride to Bochum before settling in to my Air B n B for the day! Though I was nervous about missing my connection, apprehensive about leaving my friends and family, and a little bit stressed about not knowing the language of any of the countries I’m traveling to, right now I’m feeling overwhelmingly excited for what lies ahead!

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